Price Paid:  $869.00 from ubid

Summary:
Top notch receiver in every category. Plenty of power to blow your socks off, yet the midnight mode will tame it when you want. The remote is a real kick. It will control all of your other devices easy as pie. It takes a while to set up but it is fun to play with, setting up macros so one touch will turn on the cable box, tv, receiver, etc. I had trouble at first in that the receiver could not recognize the remote. All of the other devices did right away. I tried everything to no avail. I was ready to send it back when I called Kenwood tollfree and talked to support. Chris told me that I had to reset the receiver and I had to hold down the power button on the receiver when plugging back in, which I had not done. I had to have my wife help me. I missed it in the excellent instruction manuals sent with the unit. That fixed the problem and I have had none since except I have been changing the listening, modes and speakers frequently to experiment. There is lots to experiment with on this receiver and remote. The remote will learn commands from your present remotes through IR from one to the other, neat. Best receiver I ever had. It was a little pricey but I think it is worth it.
Be sure to follow the setup manual and write down your plugins as you go.

Strengths:

Good strong sound. Ease of use. Easy hookup. Remote.

Weaknesses:
None noted.

Similar Products Used:
Denon AVR-1601, Phillips DVD player, Sanyo VHS, Hitachi 31" TV, TV cable (soon to be digital), Tocom box. Wharfedale Valdus 400 speakers L&R, 15" powered subwoofer, Wharfedale center and surround speakers.

Price Paid:  $945.00 from eBay

Summary:
I am basically happy with my purchase, especially at the price, but I would suggest that anyone considering this unit should spend a fair amount of time playing with it first.

I purchased the unit primarily for the universal video and multizone capabilities. Universal video means that you can connect composite, S-video, or component video inputs into the receiver and need only use a single video cable from the receiver to your TV. The 4900 can upconvert any input to S-video or component, and can downconvert S-video to composite. Note that it cannot downconvert component video. I was looking for this functionality to simplify my setup since I don't like using remote macros to switch receiver and TV inputs separately.

As it turns out, the receiver only makes things more complicated. Or, more to the point, the $500 Powertouch remote included with the unit makes things complicated. Here are just a few of the problems with the remote:

* Learning ability is primative - could not learn several of my components.
* Macro abilities are primative - can only include a handful of seemingly arbitrary commands in macros. Most buttons cannot be used in a macro. In addition, to invoke a macro requires several button presses, which defeats the purpose of macros to begin with.
* Performance was spotty at best. With brand new batteries and standing directly in front of the receiver I would often need to repeat button presses several times. Sometimes it would seem that I could not press buttons any quicker than about once every two seconds. Since the remote and the receiver communicate with each other via 2-way IR, the remote would often become "out of sync" with the receiver.
* The remote is not upgradable in any way. I called tech support since the remote could not learn my Sony SAT-T60 DirecTV/Tivo and was told I was basically SOL.
* Since the receiver only receives RF you cannot use a different IR remote unless your purchase additional IR receivers (Kenwood sells theirs for $300).

I've decided to keep the receiver but purchase a Xantech IR receiver ($32) and MX-500 remote control instead of using the Powertouch. I would have rated the 4900 much higher if the Powertouch was usable, or if it was priced a few hundred $$ less which is what the Powertouch is worth.

Strengths:
Universal video, multizone

Weaknesses:
Remote, usability

Price Paid:  $1300.00

Summary:
I upgraded from the VR-2090 and instantly noticed the improvements particularly in movie playback. The surround channels came through with more power, which gives proof that equal power to all channels is WORTH IT! What really blew me away was the quality that stereo playback provided. I heard things in my CD's that I had not heard before thanks to Sharc's processing chips! No matter what I listened to to the listening experience was heightened. But back to hometheater...just as I heard more in my CD's I noticed things in movies not heard before (again thanks Sharc!). I know sound has a lot to do with your speaker set up too, but put in a good soundtrack like...oh, The Red Violin, and you'll hear the beautiful highs, lows and excellent midrange this baby reproduces!

So do you have a lot of remotes? How about connections behind your a/v equipment? Then you have to get one of these babies. I have my s-video vcr, component progressive scan dvd player, and my composite N64 hooked up to the VR-4900 and it upconverts the composite and s-video to compenent then I run one component out from the unit into my HDTV and MAN what a picture. Find another A/V Reciever that will do that?! You won't! I love it, no more multiple inputs on my TV, just one...not to mention it uses component which is the best connection for video signals. On the remote side of things, this touchscreen baby works like a charm. I would have SIX remotes but now I just have one, becuase I taught all the functions that did not come preprogrammed. Oh, and no looking up codes...you just click on the name of your component and click test! I love it!

As you can see I love this beast and it is a beast at 40lbs! But to me it's more of a beauty. I know I did not cover everything about this reciever, so feel free to e-mail me at efarstad@integrity.com if you want. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Equipment list:

Mits. 46" HDTV
Kenwood VR-4900
Kenwood DV-4900 (DVD-Audio/DVD-Video/CD)
Kenwood Tapedeck (forget model #)
Toshiba SD-6200 Progressive DVD Player
Philips S-Video VCR (forget model #)
Energy Speakers:
AC300 Center Channel
C-2's Right and Left Fronts
Take 2's in rear
Klipsch Subwoofer
Monster Cable Interconnects throughout

I'm building a house in April, with my own Dedicated Home Theater room, so I will be able to run a better test of this baby in a accoustically designed room...also I'm upgrading my speakers since I'll be moving out of our small townhouse where we shake our neighbors fireplace with loud explosions! :-)

Strengths:
Universal Video (Upconverts composite & s-video to Component), TRUE Equal Power to all channels (100x5), 130x2 for stereo playback, Learning Touchscreen remote, HDCD, Sharc 32-bit processing, COOL slick silver with black lacquer side panes, motorized front panel, and on and on...

Weaknesses:
None really, unless you want DTS-ES or THX-EX (but I've heard that's coming next year on Kenwood Models).

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha, Denon, Sony, Pioneer, Onkyo, and HK.